Frontiers | Revisiting the streptococcal M protein: modern perspectives on antibody function, host interactions, and therapeutic targeting Group A Streptococcus (GAS) causes extensive global morbidity and rising rates of invasive disease, for which clinical outcomes remain poor despite antibioti...

Can we use antibodies to treat sepsis? 🦠

Group A Streptococcus is one of our most common pathogens. While often manageable, it can turn deadly. In a new review, Sebastian Wrighton and I argue for a fresh look at antibody-based therapies targeting the M protein.

www.frontiersin.org/journals/imm...

Creation and validation of improved MALDI-TOF MS libraries for S. bovis-S. equinus-complex subspecies identification adapted to diagnostic culturing and extraction conditions Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) libraries have limited capabilities for identification of …

New from Nilson’s group: Öberg et al. create and validate improved MALDI-TOF MS libraries for identifying subspecies of the S. bovis-S. equinus complex.

#InfectLU #Diagnostics #MassSpec led by B. Nilson

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Characterization of five environmental phages infecting Escherichia coli K-12 isolated during a phage biology training course | Microbiology Spectrum Bacterial anti-phage defense systems are central to microbiology and have applications in biotechnology and medicine. Phage collections are key tools for uncovering and studying these systems. By isol...

New article: Shyrokova et al. isolate and characterize five environmental phages infecting E. coli K-12. A detailed look at phage genomics and host interactions from a phage biology training course.

#InfectLU #Phages #Microbiology led by M. J. O. Johansson

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Structural characterization of an extracellular contractile injection system from Photorhabdus luminescens in extended and contracted states - Nature Communications Marín-Arraiza and colleagues report the cryo-EM structures of an extracellular contractile injection system from Photorhabdus luminescens in extended and contracted states, providing structural insigh...

New from Taylor’s group: Marín-Arraiza et al. characterize the structure of an extracellular contractile injection system from Photorhabdus luminescens.

#InfectLU #StructuralBiology #CryoEM led by N. M. I. Taylor

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Citrobacter spp. bloodstream infection primarily affects the elderly either hospitalized or closely associated with health care – a population-based observational study with comparisons between C. kos... Objectives Despite regularly being found in blood cultures, there are few studies of bloodstream infection (BSI) with Citrobacter. In this population-based study, the aim was to explore patient charac...

New: Sunnerhagen et al. find Citrobacter bloodstream infections primarily affect the elderly with healthcare contact. C. koseri is linked to urinary sources, while C. freundii often has an abdominal focus. #InfectLU #Bacteriology #Epidemiology led by O. Ljungquist

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Sacrificial redox modulation by a secreted bacterial effector molecule mitigates oxidative stress and inflammation in vivo Human-bacterial interactions play a crucial role in several essential aspects of life. Here, we describe how a secreted protein from the skin commensa…

New from Lood’s group: Andersson et al. reveal that a secreted bacterial effector from P. acnes acts as a sacrificial redox modulator, mitigating oxidative stress and inflammation in vivo.

#InfectLU #SkinMicrobiome #Inflammation led by R. Lood

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The Viral AlphaFold Database of monomers and homodimers reveals conserved protein folds in viruses of bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes VAD is a Viral AlphaFold Database of protein monomers and homodimers from viruses infecting hosts across the tree of life.

New from Atkinson’s group: Odai et al. present the Viral AlphaFold Database, revealing conserved protein folds in viruses across bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. A massive step for structural virology.

#InfectLU #Virology #AI led by G. C. Atkinson

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Overcoming Immune Evasion in Staphylococcus aureus: Strategies for Rational Vaccine Design Staphylococcus aureus remains one of the most elusive targets in bacterial vaccinology, primarily due to its complex immune evasion strategies and the phenomenon of immune imprinting. Despite decades ...

New from Converso’s group: Shinwari et al. review strategies to overcome S. aureus immune evasion for rational vaccine design. The paper proposes a framework using AI and omics to identify effective antigens.
#InfectLU #Vaccines #Staphylococcus led by T. R. Converso

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

New article: Forsberg et al. share peptidomics data from porcine wound infections—resources for host–pathogen research, led by Hartman.

doi.org/10.1038/s415... #InfectLU #Proteomics

New article: Öhrneman et al. benchmark nano‑PSL aerosol generators & toxicity; NAG shows stability—led by Löndahl.

doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...

#InfectLU #Nanoparticles

Lectures with this year's Eric. K Fernström Foundation prize winners!

The cystic fibrosis pathogen Achromobacter xylosoxidans inhibits biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Background. Achromobacter xylosoxidans and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are two pathogens that cause persistent airway infections in individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF). The persistence of P. aeruginosa i...

The cystic fibrosis pathogen Achromobacter xylosoxidans inhibits biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

New article: Sahl et al. show A. xylosoxidans can inhibit P. aeruginosa biofilms in vitro—led by Påhlman. doi.org/10.1099/jmm.... #InfectLU #Biofilms

Septic arthritis score (SAS) – a novel clinical prediction model for the probability of septic arthritis in the adult native knee - BMC Infectious Diseases Background Patients presenting with an acutely painful swollen joint represent a diagnostic challenge. We aimed to develop a clinical prediction model for septic arthritis (SA) in the adult native kne...

New article: Tverring et al. introduce SAS to estimate native knee septic arthritis risk—online calculator included—led by Ljungquist.
doi.org/10.1186/s128... #InfectLU #Diagnostics

New article: Silva et al. validate a GFP‑based proxy for antibiotic‑induced phage activation in E. coli—led by Lood. doi.org/10.3390/anti... #InfectLU #Phage

New article: Litins’ka et al. examine infection control vs. freedom of movement in Swedish elder care.

doi.org/10.53292/061... #InfectLU #HealthLaw

New letter: Roer et al. report spread of FAR‑MRSA ST121 across Europe, affecting children—led by Petersen.

doi.org/10.2807/1560... #InfectLU #MRSA

New article: Öberg et al. deliver MALDI‑TOF libraries enabling near‑universal SBSEC subspecies ID in routine workflows—led by Nilson.
doi.org/10.1016/j.di... #InfectLU #Diagnostics

This semester, we´re excited to launch a new joint seminar series organized by the immunobiolgy and Immunotherapy nodes of infect@LU.

@sararolandssonenes.bsky.social
Caroline.Bergenfelz@med.lu.se

www.infect.lu.se/calendar/new...

Senior Lecturer in Virology Position Permanent position as Senior Lecturer in Virology based at the Department of Translational Medicine or Department of Laboratory Medicine. The departmental affiliation will be decided at the t

Senior Lecturer in Virology

lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Collage of seminar. Illustration.

Welcome to this semester´s first YoungInfect@LU event - a seminar designed to bring together students and early-career researchers in infection biology, microbiology, and immunology at Lund University.

YoungInfect@LU node leaders
isabella.bennig@med.lu.se
maria_joao.silva@med.lu.se

Profiling the nasopharyngeal Microbiome in patients with community-acquired pneumonia caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae: diagnostic challenges and ecological insights - Medical Microbiology and Immun... Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a significant health threat for adults. Although conjugate vaccines have reduced pneumococcal CAP incidence in children, Streptococcus pneumoniae-related CAP rema...

New publication about the nasopharyngeal microbiome in relation to pneumonia, by Cristina Zubiria Barrera, Kristian Riesbeck and co-authors.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Sputum culture yields after antibiotic therapy – a retrospective cohort study Sputum cultures can guide antibiotic therapy, particularly in severe pneumonia or when resistant pathogens are suspected. However, data on how prior a…

New study by Margot Bryer, @magnuspaulsson.bsky.social et al on "Sputum culture yields after antibiotic therapy".

The results underline that sputum samples should ideally be collected before antibiotic administration.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Comparison of HANDOC and Chamat-Hedemand’s risk stratification systems for predicting infective endocarditis among patients with non-beta-hemolytic streptococci blood stream infections Non-β-hemolytic streptococci (NBHS) cause blood stream infections (BSI) which can be complicated by infective endocarditis (IE). To stratify the risk for IE in NBHS BSI and to guide the use of echo...

New article on risk stratification systems for predicting infective endocarditis by Gustav Pernow, Magnus Rasmussen, and co-workers.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Association of time to positivity with disease severity in bloodstream infections - a population-based cohort study Short time to positivity (TTP) has been proposed as a prognostic indicator in bloodstream infection (BSI) but results have been conflicting. The aim of this study was to explore the association betwee...

New publication from Oscar Ljungquist, Gustav Torisson and co-authors on "Association of time to positivity with disease severity in bloodstream infections"

www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S119...

Biomarkers in lower respiratory tract samples in the diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia: a systematic review BackgroundVentilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the most common intensive care unit-acquired infection, yet its diagnosis is complicated by the lack of reliable diagnostic criteria and validated biomarkers. Due to the compartmentalisation of the immune response, host proteins in respiratory tract samples are more likely than serum proteins to accurately identify VAP. However, a reliable biomarker is still missing and it is generally agreed that >90% sensitivity and specificity are required for the introduction of a VAP biomarker into clinical routine.MethodsA structured database search was performed to identify publications aimed at deriving or verifying human respiratory tract VAP biomarkers. The results were screened by two independent reviewers and summarised using statistical and narrative synthesis.Results40 articles were identified, focusing on 29 unique biomarkers with clinical and microbiological diagnoses of VAP as the reference standard. The most frequently studied biomarker was soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cell 1 (sTREM-1) (n=16), followed by various interleukins (n=7), neutrophil-related proteins (n=8) and amylase as a surrogate for microaspiration (n=4). The target accuracy of >90% specificity and sensitivity for VAP was reported in four publications on sTREM-1, one on pentraxin-3 (PTX3) and one on heparin-binding protein (HBP). Meta-analysis of sTREM-1 resulted in a sensitivity of 78% (95% CI 61–89%) and specificity of 76% (95% CI 49–91%).DiscussionThis systematic review found that no biomarker can currently be recommended for clinical use due to performance below 90% specificity or sensitivity, or insufficient data (PTX3 and HBP). Accurate clinical phenotyping into VAP subcategories may enable the discovery of VAP biomarkers with higher accuracy.

New review on biomarkers in the diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia!

By Emily Gromelsky Ljungcrantz, @magnuspaulsson.bsky.social and coworkers

publications.ersnet.org/content/erre...

Nationwide Observational Case–Control Study of Risk Factors for <em>Aerococcus</em> Bloodstream Infections, Sweden These infections occur predominantly in elderly men with urinary tract disorders and are associated with urologic and neurologic conditions.

New publication by John Walles, Torgny Sunnerhagen and co-authors on risk factors for Aerococcus bloodstream infections in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...

Non-beta-haemolytic streptococcal bacteraemia in patients with heart valve prosthesis – is it always infective endocarditis? AbstractIntroduction. Non-beta-haemolytic streptococci are among the most common causative agents of infective endocarditis (IE). Patients with a heart val

New publication on the risk of streptococcal infection for patients with heart-valve prosthesis by Fanny Toivonen, Magnus Rasmussen and co-authors. Congratulations!

academic.oup.com/ofid/advance...

New publication from Thomas Sahlström Månsson, Lisa Mellhammar, and colleagues in the journal Infection on the use of piperacillin/tazobactam to reduce antibiotic resistance. Congratulations!

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Human proteome distribution atlas for tissue-specific plasma proteome dynamics Using cell- and tissue-specific proteomics data, a method was developed to determine where proteins detected in blood plasma were produced, enabling insights into dynamic disease pathophysiology.

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Postdoctoral research fellow with a focus on the molecular mechanisms of bacteriophage-host interactions Description of the Workplace In the Atkinson lab we are interested in making discoveries about protein function and structure, with a focus on bacterial immune system components that protect against b

Reminder about two open positions:
1) tenure track group leader position on data driven infection research lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
2) post-doc in mine/Vasili's join team lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
#phagesky #microsky